Kalle RANDALU – piano
Conductor Neeme JÄRVI
Programme:
Arvo PÄRT – Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN – Fourth Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major, Op. 58
Sergei RACHMANINOFF – Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13
Still as spry as ever, that grandmaster of form and master of surprise Neeme Järvi is at last a guest in Riga again. Alongside Beethoven’s loveliest and most mysterious fantasy – the Fourth Piano Concerto – this programme sets Arvo Pärt’s beautiful miniature in memory of Benjamin Britten and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony, whose utter failure at its premiere brought the composer a severe nervous breakdown. From today’s vantage point it is always interesting to experience this youthfully somewhat unruly yet emotionally powerful symphonic achievement afresh and to form one’s own view – were those who savaged Rachmaninoff’s early work right, or those who do not shy away from placing this symphony in their concert programmes?